Brussels, 22/05/2001 (Agence Europe) - By adopting, on first reading, the report by Rijk van Dam (Dutch, EDD), the European Parliament extended the deadline between entry into force of the regulation that will mean that European truck drivers will have to be in possession of a common "certificate": the regulation would be applicable immediately for extra-Community drivers working for a Community haulage company, and two years later for Community drivers (instead of one year for everyone, as the Commission proposed). According to the rapporteur, "this momentary discrimination between third country nationals and nationals of EU Member States must be accepted so as to abolish distortions to competition as soon as possible while avoiding too cumbersome an administrative process impeding implementation of the measures." Parliament also introduced the number of the driving and social security licence among the personal information that will have to be mentioned on diver certificates.
You may recall that this regulation, aimed at combating the "social dumping" of drivers from the Eastern countries working for EU companies, is the only measure that has received almost unanimity in Council and Parliament, among the measures of the "road social package", which the Commission presented on 22 November. Last December, the Council had already reduced the scope of the directive on working hours for truck drivers, presented in the same package, by excluding "self-employed" drivers, who form a large part of European truck drivers (See further, regarding social dumping of truck drivers of eastern Europe).